I've been to look at a 260 for sale today - never owned one before but have been thinking about it for a long time and I already have a ZS180.

The car is in the right price range for a good car, but the seller's face was not aware of rear subframe corrosion. He became aware when I put my thumb through it. It has done less than 1000 miles since its last MOT in September 2014 and it was rather surprising that there was no advisory.

The seller is willing to negotiate on price now, so I'd like to know what's involved in replacing it. I'd rather strip the rear transmission completely, fit new springs because the existing ones are rusty, new bushes etc where needed. I see that I can buy a new subframe from Rimmers for £750.

My question is what is involved in changing the subframe? From what I can see, it's wheels and drive shafts off, then springs, roll bar lateral links and dampers. But then, does one remove the subframe with the differential attached by splitting the driveshaft from the diff then taking it off as a one? Or is the diff removed from the subframe before the subframe is removed from the body?

Apart from the difficulty of dealing with 10-year-old fasteners, is this job any harder than it seems? I'm trying to assess the value of the job for the purpose of discussions on the price.

You might like to send me a private message to keep the commercial part of this private!